UnCensored approaches Public Protector to investigate SAA contracts

UnCensored has approached the Public Protector’s office to investigate allegations of rampant corruption at South African Airways (SAA).

Last week we published a story about allegations of runaway corruption at the national carrier which involved among others, contracts which had long expired but were being extended without due process being followed. A whistleblower told UnCensored that some of the largest and longest contracts had long expired and were now open ended and operated on memoranda of understanding (MOUs). The whistleblower cited Bidvest, Kinetsu World Express (KWE), Alpine Butchery. http://uncensoredopinion.co.za/why-is-the-rampant-corruption-at-saa-protected/

When we approached SAA’s spokesperson Tladi Tladi last week to verify the details of these contracts he said the organisation couldn’t disclose the details of the contracts due to confidentiality clauses. When he wuldnt disclose we approached SAA’s chairperson Dudu Myeni, Treasury and Parliament’s committee on public enterprises. We want to know what has been done with the Ernst & Young report which among others, showed that 60% of the 48 sampled contracts showed “weaknesses in the procurement processes”. We also fear that the report is not only ignored by several oversight bodies but even the civil society group, OUTA, which has been very vocal regarding the corruption at SAA, is cherry-picking its cases and ignoring the rot among the white-owned entities defrauding SAA. Responding on Twitter, the NGO’s Wayne Duvenage said they had instituted a case to have Myeni declared a “Delinquent Director. The charges against others will follow”.

Given the information that we have, which we could not corroborate due to SAA’s refusal to disclose, we have approached the PP to investigate these contracts.

The Constitution of the Republic protects the right to access to information held by the State in order to ensure that we never go back to those dark days of a secrecy prevalent during the apartheid years. We now live in a country where the culture of transparency and accountability is key to curtailing the abuse of power both by private and public entities.

UnCensored seeks the assistance of a lawyer in using the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) in order to access these contracts. It’s not just SAA, many of the government departments and other state owned entities refuse to disclose the lengths and value of the contracts. Eskom just last week refused to disclose the value of the 40 and 50 year old contracts which are held my white monopoly capitalists. http://uncensoredopinion.co.za/the-scramble-for-coal-white-monopoly-40yr-contracts/

12 Comments

Bravo PK! I really approve the move to the Public Protector to investigate this plundering of State Resources by the White Monopoly Capital.
And the White Monopoly Capital stealing is protected by Neocolonialism NGOs like the OUTA, because, I don’t understand why they have to investigate only Dudu Myeni when the WMC companies are operating without contracts at SAA.
I had a glimpse of a WMC Newspaper Article (News 24) headlined “Zuma’s Radical Economic Transforamtion is a looting mechanism”.
What is worrying about this, is that a perceived looting of State Coffers by Black People will be splashed in the front pages of WMC Fake News Mainstream Media but real looting of State by white people like it is happening at the SAA is nowhere to be seen in these WMC media platforms.
What is even more worrying is that WMC captured ‘Black Analysts’ will come with this nonsensical analysis which seeks to undermine the Government.
These people (WMC puppets) are paid huge sums of money by WMC which steals from poor people (News about collusion in fixing of margarine and cooking oil prices by WMC companies are now in the public domain) of this country to push its (WMC) Agenda.
We might not be as loud as they are because they have the WMC Fake News Mainstream Media spreading their propaganda, but we outnumber them by far therefore we must use any advantage and any means available means to defeat their devious agenda of enslaving the people of this country.
Reporting whatever corruption we know to the authorities including the PP is one of the way of keeping them at bay.

As someone said Mzi, we don’t use the Institutions established to assist with runaway corruption which is happening everywhere. Look at the story we published of the 40 to 50 year coal contracts at Eskom.
Learnt that Bidvest also provides security for Treasury and all the banks. Am still waiting for these entities to verify the information I have. But all of us in our little corners can assist in exposing this rot.
Imagine if you spent a few hours a week just phoning around to find some of this stuff and bringing it here for publication? We can do a lot.
Let’s go to work people….
Lets find out the largest contracts and their value at all these SOEs & government departments.

Thanks for your kind words of encouragement Pinky . I will certainly certainly expand on my comments regarding the clergy . They are a critical component in the political landscape which is unfolding before us . Traditionally they ought to provide the moral compass from the pulpit .Unfortunately my observation , an observation which is shared by many of the faithful , our bishops are increasingly being drawn to one side of the political spectrum , namely support of white monopoly capital , under the guise of being critics of a corrupt government and political leadership. Their silence on corporate corruption is not only amazing but amounts to outright hypocrisy .Their rush to openly attack individuals and organisations without having regard to due process is revolting.
I am not sure what informs this attitude. Could it be due to the fact that our churches themselves are not immune to issues of class struggle ? Could it be due to the fact that donations and financial support to the church traditionally flows from the wealthy and pre-dominantly white section of the laity? You decide . I have my own views on this subject . It is a subject whose discussion must be brought to the fore .

Am not sure of the value of the alleged contracts can only assume they are of very small value. Any expired contract can be kept active with some agreement whether MOU. This however cannot be for indefinate period as alleged,the contracts must be put back on tender. This is the responsility of the CFO Department, hence the questions should have been directed to him or her rather that the SAA spokesperson.

Jeff, I have no idea why you assume the contracts are small? Every institution has a spokesperson who responds to media queries. You don’t open your entire institution to the media – it would be a catastrophe. You go through the spokespeople who liaise with the various people responsible for the operations of the particular query.

Sorry Pk I forget that you part of media, hence limited to spokesperson.

I assumed the value of those contracts to be of low value, because there are rules and regilation in high value tenders, which the Auditor General would have picked up the first year & ordered corrective action.

Well, what is high value to me might be peanuts to another. This KWE for example, earned R400m, R500m & R300m for 2014, 15, 16 respectively.
Alpine Butchery R38m.
Some of the Bidvest subsidiaries are getting R68m, R45m, etc.
Not small change to me…

Well done Uncensored, the Public Protector is your only option, Finance Minister cooperation will speed up the process in terms of access to the info of those contracts, Auditor General office will also be worth talking to.I also suggest that the allegation are also brought to Minister Lyne Brown.

In terms of access to information in terms of PAIA Act anyone has this right if they are enticled to that info, if not even a lawyer won’t get it right, the only other option is section 205 Subpoena of which only NPA, SAPS or DPCI can obtain through courts .

I wish to congratulate you Pinky in displaying genuine and non-partisan concern for effective and transparent governance of our state-owned institutions. Not only did I read your post last week regarding the situation at SAA but I also noted with great concern the revelation by SAA Chairperson Ms Dudu Myeni during her briefing to the Portfolio Committee on Finance a few months back that only 2 percent of the company’s procurement spend goes to black suppliers. I also read elsewhere of the extra-ordinarily huge benefits which are enjoyed by SAA pilots . These benefits apparently also include the right of SAA pilots and accompanying spouses and dependents to override the rights of fee paying passengers.
No Pinky, OUTA, the Helen Suzman Foundation and allied political parties will certainly not support this particular investigation by the Public Protector for the simple reason that the beneficiaries of these apparent irregularities at the company are white-owned companies. However they will always cherry-pick Ms Myeni and single her out for criticism. Such is the moral decay in our country: moral decay which is characterised by double standards, hypocrisy, selective reporting and use of unverified and untested information to intentionally paint proponents of transformation in very negative light while falsely presenting the defenders of white monopoly capital as champions of sound and effective corporate governance.
What I find even more disturbing and painful is the fact that those in the hierarchy of our so-called “mainline churches”, the Catholic, Anglican and Methodist churches have placed themselves firmly in the camp of the above-mentioned forces. The bishops are forever painting elected leaders of government and the ruling party as the primary and sole source of corruption in our country. Despite the vast resources available to these churches and the fact that most of their clergy are well educated, they either fail or simply refuse to take such steps to ensure that the periodic statements that they issue regarding the situation in our country does in fact present a true and balanced picture of what is happening in our country. I grew up in a strongly Catholic family and I am still a practicing Catholic, but I am getting increasingly concerned at the double-standards which are adopted by our bishops. This is a view which is shared by many of the faithful, especially those in the dusty townships of this beautiful country of ours. It is increasingly becoming very difficult for people like myself to defend the church from its critics. If this situation is left unchecked , our bishops will find themselves politically isolated from their flock, the faithful people of God, very much in the same way that the bishops in Latin America found themselves on the side of the ruling eltes and isolted from the laity.
Coming back to the issue of your application to have Public Protector Mkhwebane investigate the issue at SAA, one can only hold to the hope that there will be an exhaustive investigation initiated by her office. After all Thuli Madonsela, the darling of opposition parties and white monopoly has vacated office. No more shall we be fed with unbalanced and poorly written reports which would earn her praise and accolades from the media.

Thank you very much Greg. We have sat on the sidelines while our country and democracy is literally being stolen from us. We have been so inwardly focussed, fighting each other over crumbs, when our enemy has been regrouping and consolidating for political power. These forces have the economic power and all they need is political power endorsed within a democratic state. They have bought a few Blacks through BEE shares and they have become their proxies who now preach on their behalf.
You make very strong remarks about the clergy. It’s an interesting point which you must expand on when you have the time and write a full article.
What I ask of progressive South Africans is that we adopt the culture of volunteerism. We must support platforms like this one through contributing articles, our services, and financially. We are waging a war of regime change against a massive machinery with wealth and the media on its side.
These Foundations cropping up all over the place have massive resources, some of it volunteered services. In our cases, it is just a few people who contribute, the rest want to know how much they are getting paid. I ask myself, do my countrymen not see what is in front of them. Do they not see that a coup is underway?
Right now my biggest fear is burn-out. There’s too much at stake, too short a time and a populace captured by disinformation.